Tuesday, March 29, 2005

CPI Benefit CD on Rolling Stone Website

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For the past few months we have been putting together a benefit CD featuring some excellent talent. I called Rolling Stone today and asked if they would be interested in running a piece... they posted the story within hours to their website! Read the story here.

This CD, titled Too Many Years, features Natalie Merchant, Philip Glass, Widespread Panic, Jorma Kaukonen, The String Cheese Incident, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dark Star Orchestra, Sally Taylor, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Samples, and two of my favorites... Rick Redington and our good friends The Jim Gilmour Band. You can preorder the CD here.

Mine Survivor To Bike Across Desert For MAG

This just in from CPI friend and Mines Advisory Group patron Stuart Hughes:

"I was able to spend some time putting together a proposal to cycle across Death Valley later in the year to raise loads of lovely money for MAG.

If there are any dot com millionaires out there (do they still exist?) who'd like to be the headline sponsor for the event -- in the knowledge that they'll be helping stop little children from having their arms and legs blown off by landmines -- speak up now."

Mines Advisory Group is CPI's official partner for humanitarian clearance. Stuart Hughes, in addition to being a BBC reporter AND a landmine survivor, has a popular blog here.

His biography can be read here.

And if you want to help him in his fund drive, please contact him here.

Update: Injured Boy, Nghia, Returns Home

Just before I left Vietnam on my most recent trip, there was a terrible accident involving a young boy named Nghia (see posts here and here). Nghia had found a piece of ordnance and was tampering with it to get the scrap metal inside to sell.

He lost both of his lower legs from the calf down and his left arm from just below the elbow.

He returned home a few days ago and the CPI staff was there to check in on the family. He is doing very well, considering.

Click on the images to enlarge.

         

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Three Girls Killed by Vietnam War-era Bomb

The CPI VN staff just received word on this and sent it here... it happened about 2 weeks ago... they are responding today.

Source: Agence France Presse -- English

Three girls aged between 10 and 12 were killed and two others injured when a US-made M79 bomb dating back to the Vietnam War exploded in central Dak Lak province, police said Thursday.

"The schoolgirls didn't know that it was a piece of ordnance and were
playing with it, after having found it in a forest nearby," the officer in Madrac district told AFP.

The accident was on March 11, he said.

"The blast happened after one of the girls tried to break open the shell with a piece of stone. Two more schoolgirls were seriously injured and have been hospitalised," he said.

According to the US military, more than 15 million tonnes of bombs, mines,artillery shells and other munitions were used during the war, which ended in 1975. As much as 10 percent of the ordnance is estimated to have failed to explode

Since the war ended, more than 38,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured as a result of this unexploded ordnance, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Most of the blasts are triggered by people farming or trying to salvage the metal casings and explosives from the munitions. The metal is usually sold for scrap, while the explosives are used by fishermen.


School is in Session

What has not gotten a lot of coverage, if any, on our site is the CPI-built elementary school which opened for classes in September of 2004.

Serving 383 children ages 6-11 in two separate shifts, the "Peace School" as it was named by provincial authorities (I had unsuccesfully requested to have it named after Spalding Gray), is located less than a quarter mile from our office in Dong Ha Town, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. Funded by the Freeman Foundation, the school was built on land formerly contaminated with hundreds of unexploded bombs which Clear Path removed (also with Freeman funding) in 2001 and 2002. CPI no longer works to remove ordnance and instead focuses on victim assistance

I got a chance to visit the school (and also disrupt classes) on my last visit...

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Friday, March 25, 2005

Johnson State Breaks Away to Vietnam

Greetings from Johnson State College. My name is Laura and I am here in Dorset, VT with two fellow students, Angie and Tess. We are participants of this year's Break Away trip to Vietnam. Break Away is a student lead program out of the Center for Service Learning at JSC. Break Away encourages students to devote their time to exploring social issues and then connect with the social issues through direct service, education and reflection. Break Away is a program specifically designed to give it's participants the tools to let their community become the center of their values and morals and ultimately become active citizens. After last year's trip to Vietnam with CPI, it was decided that a return trip should be planned to continue building relationships with the Vietnamese and to become effective advocates for the landmine and UXO relief efforts of CPI. We are excited to be working with Martha, James, and Britta and (those of us who have never been to Vietnam) cannot wait to meet the rest of the CPI crew and especially the Vietnamese people. We are very grateful for this opportunity, and for all of the people in Johnson, Dorset, and Vietnam who are making it possible.


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Thursday, March 24, 2005

Another Close Call in Central Vietnam

I wrote in an earlier post that over the past few weeks our Vietnam office has been receiving more reports than usual of accidents involving unexploded ordnance (UXO) also known as explosive remnants of war (ERW).

Just this morning the CPIVN office emailed CPIUS to inform us of two more children injured(that makes four in two separate incidents in two days) in Central Vietnam. Again, these kids were very lucky...

"Hi James,

I am sending you now the info of a new accident in Hue.

. (Ho Van Phau, aged 16 and Le Thanh Thiet, aged 10) A new accident
happened in A Luoi, a mountainous district of Thua Thien Hue province on March 21^st 2005. A projectile detonated upon being struck by Ho van Phau when he was shoveling sand in a dam, which is 20km from his home.

The explosion caused Phau unconscious immediately and badly injured him. There were several big fragments that went through his abdomen, right hand below elbow and right leg below knee. In addition, two fingers in his left hand werecrushed.

Phau is the third child in a big but poor ethnic family in A Luoi
district. He had dropped out of school because of his difficult living conditions and worked for someone else to earn money.

The fragments from the projectile also slightly injured another boy
named Thiet who was playing near by the dam. He received a fragment
going through one of his leg below knee.

They were taken directly to the Thua Thien Hue provincial hospital for first aid and treatment."

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Lucky Kids

Fortunately, not all accidents involving ERW (Explosive Remnants of War) are fatal. Some cause only minor injuries. The children in the excerpt from the Vietnam office's email to me below are extremly lucky. Other children have not been so lucky.

"(Hoang Thanh Thao-boy and Hoang Thi Thuan-girl) A new accident happened to 02 sibling kids (12 year-old boy and 14 year-old girl) in Trieu Van, a coastal commune in Trieu Phong district of Quang Tri province when they were looking for small scrap iron in a tomb area near their school. The boy, Thao picked up a long aluminum object as big as a finger when he first saw it. Being afraid that the unknown piece is unsafe, his sister, Thuan told him to drop it down. It exploded upon touching the ground and slightly injured both of them.

Thao received some fragments in his face and abdomen while his sister only got fragment in her cheek. They were afterward taken to district health center for first aid and then transferred to Quang Tri General Hospital for treatment."


Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Thank you, Hugh Hosman!

This week marked Hugh Hosman's last week with CPI in Vietnam. He has been instrumental in creating the CPI Direct Victim Assistance program. He was so effective, in fact, that we are able to now have an all Vietnamese office staff.

Not only will this save money for CPI, but by doing so we are building indigenous capacity for our program. This is a big step for CPI, and would not be possible without Hugh's vision and dedication to the mission of Clear Path.

Hugh now lives in Hue with his new wife, Nhi (not the Nhi that works for CPI!). Nhi will be helping us arrange our student trips to Vietnam... so we are all still close!

Thank you, Hugh!

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Hello everybody

Hello all of the kids at Tenafly school, How are all of you? Today I am very please and I just came from Vocational Training Center at Kampong Cham province. You What is my supprice when I came back from Kampong Cham, On 30 of this month one the students in Sewing skill she will married, her name is SOK KUONG, So please say congratulation to her and Wish. Who want to join this wedding I would like to invite every body. ok?

For more information I will send to everybody and her picture wedding in soon, I have more detail for her wedding in next blog.


It is my first blog that I start myself with the recommendation from James Hathaway.

Chanthon's Story

CHHORN CHANTHON is the newest member of the CPI team. He is our on the ground representative in Cambodia and works with our partner Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development. He recently sent me his bio for our website. Before reading his bio I did not know he was a scrap metal collector who would risk his life to collect unexploded ordnance for pocket change.

I have decided to post it here before editing and adding it to our staff page. I think posting this unedited is more true to the nature of a blog posting...

Thank you Chanthon!!

CHHORN CHANTHON
Group 3, Beoung Salang village, Russey Keo Commune,
Russey Keo District, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.


People, especially children go to the forest or former military bases to find scrap mine or UXO to sell to a middle salesman. The purchase price for scrap metal is very low - around 500 Riel to 700 Riel (US$ 0.125 to US$0.175) per kilo. People are using metal detectors to search for bomb scrap, and mine, which are usually, buy and sold.


Buying and Selling Mines /UXO�s to sell for scrap metal is a major problem in Cambodia, especially in areas located along the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

I was born in 1980, in Prey Veng province. I have four brothers, and I am the oldest in the family. When I was seven years old my second brother and I lived with my grandparent in Preck Loung district, Kandal province, from 1960 to 1975 this district was strongly fighting by Vietnam War, and in 1970 to 1975 re-fighting again by rebellion against Lon Nol and rice of Khmer rouge. Even though I didn�t experience with all this war but I understood what is the meaning of war? What is the benefit of war? Wars are very dangerous and very pity to the people; Moving of members in family to live with another one or any where because the poorness, losing the member or whole member in the family by death, with the country that effected by war so long time, its is very hard to develop because the people no knowledge, no school, their opinion or brain keep with darkness picture, afraid of everything. It is the reason that my parent moved my second brother and I from my family to live with my grand parent. Scrap mental was my problem, everyday when I came back from the school at 11 am or on my vacation, I was a cowboy, when all of the cows went into the forest I started eating lunch with another cowboys, and relaxed 30 minutes or less, before we went into the forest to find some kinds of UXO to sell for scrap mental, if it was my holiday I always stay full day in the forest. I need to save some money for my second brother and I to school, I saw exploding of UXO everyday, because we try to explodes it for collect the crap mental and sold. In that time I never think, how was my future life? UXO was my parent because, if I didn�t have UXO support my second brother and I hadn�t money to buy school materials another supporting. A lot of my friend�s death because of when they were tries finding UXO to sale with me. Until now, I am very afraid of all kind of weapons mine, UXO, and gun. I don�t like all the political party or the king; they killed my friends and my relative, they made the war.

In 1990, my second brother and I moved to live with my parent at Phnom Penh, but I used the same business and planted some kinds of vegetable for sell to support my parents benefits. 1997 I was a volunteer for Hope World Wide, raised up living condition, encouraged of the people transmitted by HIV/AIDS, announced of bad effective problem by HIV/AIDS. In 1999 I passed the scholarship to study at Banana center two year an in skill of Information Technology (Computer skills) and in that time I was a volunteer in the position of a computer trainer for SANFRAN INTERNATIONAL CENTER. In year 2002 I saved some money from the computer teaching fee and continue to study at VANDA INSTITUTE in skill of financial accounting (Audit is the best skill that I like, love, I hope one day in the future I will have some money to continue), but unfortunately I studied in first year and second semester only I decided to stop myself because no money and someone support me. Mach, 2002, I was a volunteer for Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development (CVCD) my position was an assistant of English and Computer and also the computer trainer in full time. In August 2004, I passed the test to work for Clear Path International Project.




Saturday, March 19, 2005

Polus Center visits Vermont

POSTED BY: Stephen Meyers, Director of International Programs, The Polus Center

What do all the New England-based mine action organizations that work in warm places do during these long winters? They get together at Clear Path's home base in Vermont to lament the fact that they aren't working out in the field.

Like CPI, the Polus Center works in warm places. For eight years we have been working in Central America and now two years in Africa designing and supporting community based programs for persons with disabilities. To date, Polus has partnered with local communities and grassroots organizations to begin three prosthetic outreach programs, a leadership development center, an access project, a small business micro-grant initiative, and the local manufacture of wheelchairs. To learn more, see www.poluscenter.org.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Accident Reports

Every week, depending on the accident rate in Vietnam, I get reports from our Vietnam office. These reports are briefs on incidents that have occured and to which we have responded involving accidents with unexploded bombs. I am posting the most recent in the format she usually sends them to me before I edit them, follow up with the staff, then report the accidents to newswires and/or post them to our website.

A warning, the photos may be too graphic for some. I have linked to them instead of posting them directly on the page.

-----------------
Hi James,
I am now sending you the news of 4 accidents happened last week. I will
attach JPEG tomorrow.

� (Phan Van Hieu) An accident happened in Thuy Bang commune of
Thua Thien Hue province on 7 March 2005, injured a 17 year-old boy while
he was hoeing to find dirt worms for ducks in his garden. The explosion
from unknown ordnance caused him unconscious. He was then taken to Hue
Central Hospital for first aid and treatment. It was reported that he
received a lot of fragments in his face, hands, legs and the whole body.
Because of severe injury in the eyes, he could not open his eyes after
the accident. He is now under special treatment in the Emergency
Department of Hue Hospital and still half conscious and half unconscious. (photo)

� (Phan Thanh Thien) An accident happened to 2 young men in
Trieu Thuong commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province on 11
March 2005 while they were working on the field where is 20 km from
their homes. The explosion from unknown ordnance caused them both badly
injured in the entire body. They also received a lot of fragments in
face, hands and legs. After the accident, they were taken to the
district health center for first aid and then to Quang Tri provincial
hospital for intensive care and treatment. (photo, hospital video)

� (Tran Thien Chien) A new accident happened in Cam Tuyen
commune, Cam Lo district of Quang Tri province on 12 March 2005, injured
a 15 year-old boy while he was hoeing to find dirt worms for ducks far
from his house about 1,2 km. The explosion from a cluster bomb badly
holed his small intestine. He was then taken to the district Health
center for first aid and then to Quang Tri provincial Hospital for
intensive treatment. It was said that there are a lot of UXO and bombs
in the area where he was looking for dirt worms. (photo)

. (Ho Van Nhoi) A new accident happened to a 15 year-old ethnic kid (Van
Kieu group) in Huong Hiep commune, Dakrong mountainous district of Quang
Tri province on 13 Mar. He is expected to be the breadwinner in his family but has no
employment. He thus often goes to collect scrap metals for an instable
income of from VND 20,000 to VND 30,000 per day. A cluster bomb
detonated while he was collecting scrap metals in a place of 30 km from
his home and badly injured him in abdomen, hands and legs. He was then
taken to the district Health center for first aid and is now in Quang
Tri provincial Hospital for intensive treatment. (photo)

Clear Path International
Serving Landmine Survivors, their Families and their Communities

Tel: 84 53 857 718
Fax: 84 53 857 719
Khe May Lake Guesthouse
Ward 3, Dong Ha town
Quang Tri province
Viet Nam

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Accident in Vietnam Wounds Farmers

I am currently in Taipei and running to catch my flight. I wanted to post this video Chi produced on the last days of my visit.

CPI VN STAFF: I miss you already. You do incredible work.

See the film of the men in the hospital here.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Why I am Here

This entry was originally written for Tom Peters' blog at www.tompeters.com.

Here is my post to Tom's blog:

As I mentioned in my last post, I am in Quang Tri Province in Central Vietnam. This region received the heaviest sustained bombing campaign in the history of the world... more bombs were dropped here than in WWI and WWII combined. Not all of the bombs detonated on impact, and many still lie in the ground here. These bombs are not duds, they just have not exploded... yet. They lie in wait to be removed safely, or, much too often, detonate when someone disturbs them accidentally (sometimes intentionally) and the person is killed or maimed for life.

In the last two days I have visited with 3 young bomb survivors who are receiving help through our organization. Thanks to our terrific staff, two of them are now walking again. One though, a 13 year old boy, is lying in a hospital bed after an artillery shell he was playing with blew off his lower legs and one of his arms last week.

Yesterday we visited the boy in the hospital. His mother and father were at his bedside along with other family members. His face was full of gunpowder burns and small bits of shrapnel.
"How do you feel?" one of our staff asked in Vietnamese.
"It really hurts." he replied.
It is hard not to see your own children in the eyes of one so badly injured. My heart broke when they translated what he said and I sat down beside him. His lower legs from a few inches down the knee had been amputated as had his left arm just beneath the elbow. I was relieved to see initial reports were wrong and that his fingers on his right hand remained and his eyesight seemed ok. (video here. contains graphic content.)
I sat with him for a while. His father cried next to the bed. He had lost his lower right leg to a landmine during the war... now his son was suffering a seemingly worse fate.
On the way back from the hospital the staff and I discussed next steps. His amputations were in good locations for prosthetics and we will see he gets them and they are paid for by us. We already informed the family on my visit that we would be covering all his medical expenses and setting up a scholarship fund. A home assesment was made today to see if the family needs construction work to make the house handicap accesible.
I know he will thrive someday because we visited two other young people that have been through our program and are now walking. At one point it looked like they may never again.
I want to thank Tom for providing me with this forum. This will be my last post as I head back in a few days to the States. I will dearly miss my life here... this work IS my passion. Thanks, Tom for all your inspiration over the last 10 plus years (Marth and I celebrate our tenth anniversary in May!)... I am so proud to call you a friend.
Thanks to all for your comments! I wish you all the best.
shameless plug: www.cpi.org
The photos below are of Ha and Rot... the kids I visted today... their stories are worth a read.


Sunday, March 6, 2005

A Young Boy in a Dangerous Job

This weekend all of us at CPI here in Vietnam went on a staff retreat to Ba Na. Ba Na is a beautiful location high in the mountains above Da Nang. I am sure one could see for miles from where we were... but our timing was bad and we were surrounded in pea soup fog... visiblity was about 20 feet, tops. Regardless, the CPI staff is a fun bunch and we had a good time in getting away from the office for a couple of days.

On our way back down the pass on Sunday morning, we saw a young boy walking down the mountain with an inexpensive metal detector strapped in a feedbag that he had made into a backpack. Knowing what he was up to, we stopped the CPI truck to talk to him.

Many people in this region collect scrap metal that lies in the ground from the war here. Not just old bomb fragments... but live bombs as well. The fragments are sold as is or the live bombs are dismantled and defused and the the bomb casing sold as scrap. This is as dangerous as it sounds and we gain a lot of beneficiaries this way.

We inspected what the boy had in his "backpack" and asked him if he knew how dangerous it is to do what he was doing. He said yes, but he was not afraid and he does it every morning before school. He makes about a dollar from this work on a good day.

We told him to be careful, as there is little we can do to stop such a thing, and that if he ever found a live bomb to leave it where it is and not try to scavenge it. Duc then gave him a business card and told him if he ever is injured doing this work he should have his family call us. We told him we hoped that we never had to meet under such circumstances. I hope we gave him pause.

We drove off and only a couple hours later we received a report of another thirteen year old boy being nearly killed while trying to scavenge metal from an old bomb in Hue.... it seems to never stop here.

We will visit him on Wednesday.

Friday, March 4, 2005

A Child's Joy, A Mother's Sorrow

Posted by Terri

The time I am spending here seems to be speeding along. Yesterday I spent the day in the office working with Phuong, Nhi, Toan, Chi and Duc. The Clear Path office is located off the beaten path (hmm..didn�t mean that pun but�I�ll leave it !) at the end of a dirt path/driveway in a small complex of buildings that is nestled into a tree stand by the side of a lake. It�s peaceful here now belying the fact that this is actually an area that was cleared of ordnance. Located at the edge of the 17th parallel, Quang Tri is one of the most concentrated UXO/landmine areas of Viet Nam. It also happens to be the poorest of all the provinces. Traditionally most of the inhabitants of this area made their living either through farming or fishing which here means clearing and hoeing ground that is littered with UXO that has laid dormant for over 30 years. Currently the impoverished population has added yet another occupation: scrap metal recovery. This obviously carries with it an impossibly great risk of striking �metal� that is encasing an explosive. One wonders just how desperate a situation must be to lead to this deadly option in order to feed and clothe one�s family.

Today I accompanied the staff on their beneficiary visits. We traveled north from the office in Dong Ha for about an hour, crossing the Ben Hai River that was the original demilitarized zone demarcation, through the border crossing and into North Vietnam. We were delivering a brand new, very small two-wheeled Mickey Mouse bicycle to one of Toan�s beneficiary cases, PhamVan Hung. Hung is not typical beneficiary in that he is being supported by an individual donor, a friend of CPI who met him at a Community - Based Rehabilitation (CBR) center in An Thuy Commune, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province that is sponsored by CPI and East Meets West. During the week as Toan prepared the bike for delivery she had told me the story of the young person who would receive the bike. I was confused when she told me that he was not a child but actually an 18 year old who was being taken care of by his mother and father in a very small village along the banks of the river. As we entered the village we stopped first to pick up a village representative and then walked through a light drizzle down a short path leading to the house. Here we found the boy�s mom and dad and a slew of neighbors waiting for the CPI representatives. When the boy saw his new bike, complete with front basket and training wheels, his whole face lit up.
This young man suffers from the effects of Agent Orange according to his doctors. When born his skin was very slack on his body and covered with sores. He has failed to grow, has been hospitalized frequently during his life and does not speak. but his smile said it all. We stayed at the house for about � of an hour while Toan also presented the mother with some school supplies and a couple sets of clothes as well as the bicycle. The boy�s grandfather patiently helped steady the boy as he rode around and around the area in front of his home, proudly wearing his new matching jacket and pants, while his relatives and friends encouraged him. After interviewing the mother about further needs for her son, Toan announced it was time to get to our next stop. James kissed the mother as we departed which brought great gales of laughter to the gathering . I was so impressed with the joy that CPI brought this family. I wish you could have seen the genuine expressions of compassion exhibited not only by Toan but all of the CPI staff. They are truly committed to the humanitarian work they are doing.
Our next stop was back towards the south. Duc, our faithful driver turned off the main road and drove through red mud roads to the homes of the families we were to visit.. Last month, February 4th an accident occurred injuring two boys and killing a third. The three boys had gone to school in the morning (schools here are so crowded that the children go in split shifts) and after school went to the river to play before continuing home . One of the boys formed a mud ball around a hard object that was in the sand on the river bank and tossed it. As the object hit the ground in front of his friend, Dinh, it exploded killing him instantly. The other two boys were injured, the first by shrapnel to his face the second with a wound to his leg.
As we approached the home on a long back road, the scenery was bucolic. Since it was nearing the end of the day, many of the farmers were headed home leading their cows and water buffalo back to the farms. The house we stopped in front of was quite large for this country, of new construction and painted a remarkable blue. The doors were varnished. It appeared so peaceful. A lovely looking woman, her husband and three small children greeted us at the door. After removing our shoes we entered into the spotless home. This was a beneficiary case of Phuong�s who sat down with the dad to fill out some paper work. Toan took a seat on the couch and I perched on the arm. The young woman who owned the house offered us tea and then sat between Toan and me on the couch. Toan was gently interviewing the woman. I suddenly realized that we were not here to meet one of the survivors. Looking across the room my eyes landed on a photograph of a beautiful child surrounded by candles and incense. I heard the mother sigh. A sigh so deep it was jagged as she exhaled. I know the meaning of those deep breaths..Jamie heard it too and sat down in front of her to hold her hand. She grasped his hand in both of hers as she continued to talk softly to Toan. She began to cry quietly and I found that I was rubbing her back. Grief is such a universal language, none of us need words to express it. It�s all said in a sigh and the lowering of the shoulders. I�m not certain how it happened but as I rose to leave, this frail young mother ended up in my arms and we wept together. I shared her pain and sorrow for those few moment and hope that in some small way I lightened her load . I will forever remember the time we spent at her home.
She will forever remember her beautiful little boy who left for school that morning and never came home.
This is more than I intended to post. I will try to tell you about the other two boys and their families at another time.